McAfee hospitalised

APSoftware company founder John McAfee lies inside an ambulance, to be transferred from an immigration detention centre to a hospital, in Guatemala City on Thursday.

Guatemala City - Software company founder John McAfee was hospitalised on Thursday after being denied political asylum in Guatemala and his lawyers said they were making a last-ditch effort to keep him from being flown back to Belize for questioning about the killing of a fellow American expatriate.

McAfee said he suffered chest pains but didn’t believe he had a heart attack.

A government doctor who examined him agreed, saying that McAfee's heart rhythm and blood pressure were normal and that he appeared to be suffering from high stress.

McAfee was moved from an immigration centre to a police-run hospital on Thursday afternoon after Guatemalan authorities said McAfee's request for asylum had been denied. They did not explain why. Shortly after the decision was announced, McAfee issued a plea on his blog for the public to petition Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina to let him stay.

McAfee's legal team said they were preparing to appeal the denial of asylum to the country's constitutional court, a process that could give McAfee perhaps another day or two in Guatemala. The court would have to issue a decision within 48 hours. - Sapa-AP